CHAPTER FOUR

Thalia had not been entirely forthcoming with Yamamoto, though she would have been hard put to explain why; she did intend to walk through the neighborhood to the park now, leaving the trip to the woodlands for after dark.

Alecto, an enormous brown-and-black wolf, had been Thalia’s familiar as well as her faithful canine companion in the other universe. Since the wolf could not go with her in the ship, they had pledged to meet on the other side.

Thalia did not fully understand how the rules were laid out for familiars; all she knew was that they were able to bend time and space to some degree, but not very often or for too long at a time. She did know that once Alecto made the leap here, she would be stuck in her physical form for a while. This would make things tense between herself and the management of her hotel, but she didn’t intend to stay there long, whatever the outcome of her interview process with the Shinsengumi.

She had a strong feeling her familiar would meet her near the square in the park today, and she had learned from long experience not to ignore her intuition.

It was true that she needed the woods, she reflected, feeling a little guilty about her deception; her fatigue and malaise would grow more unbearable the longer she stayed in an urban setting. However, the best way for her to travel long distances for the purpose of finding the wild places she craved was in her winged form, which was that of a large blue-eyed owl. She could not fly out her hotel window in broad daylight, even if owls had been diurnal creatures.

Ignoring her weariness, she set out on foot toward the park. She got a sense of the people she passed, and they seemed for the most part to be normal human beings doing their best to live well and at peace. This lightened her heart.

The streets were bustling, full of small shops, restaurants, bars, and games parlors. Children begged their mothers for various treats, most meeting with absent-minded but good-natured denials from preoccupied women in search of groceries or other household needs. Mobile ramen stands stood on wheels, redolent with rich, appetizing smells, cloth awnings providing privacy and shade for customers. Some places were not yet open for business, the bars particularly, but the street was a hive of activity.

She greeted the sight of the park, green and restful, with relief. She had enjoyed her first taste of Kabuki-cho, but her love of nature was a part of her soul. Wild places were her favorite escape, but she took comfort also in this tamer version with its trees and small creatures dashing about in search of food; it was a lovely, restful place, unexpected in the midst of a busy shopping district.

Suddenly she became aware of rustling in a thicket nearby that indicated something large. She sensed familiarity in the huge shape.

“Alecto?” she asked, hope lifting her heart.

A huge wolf leaped out of the bushes; she caught its front paws, laughing, and spun the majestic creature around the clearing.

Alecto was even more ecstatic than Thalia at their reunion, and could not contain her energy to greeting her mistress alone. The wolf pricked up her ears, sniffed the air, and bounded off with great joy toward the main trail around the park square. Thalia’s heart sank. Much as she loved her familiars, each of them presented a certain set of challenges.

“Alecto!” she called, to no effect. Who knew how many innocent people were about to be terrified at the sight of a huge wolf charging toward them in the park? Thalia hastened her steps, annoyed with the overexuberance of canines.

Nakamura Kirito lived near the hotel in which Thalia was staying; he had been one of the people to whom Harada had offered to introduce Thalia. Kirito was not quite 30 years old, but had been born with white hair. He was a disenfranchised samurai who made his living as a sort of private detective. Because of the sword ban, he carried a bokuto – a wooden sword – and was more deadly with it than most samurai had been with katana.

Kirito had fought as a samurai captain in the war against the invading aliens, and was in fact an elusive legend of that war, though none of his new friends and neighbors were aware of it. The losses of war had left him disillusioned, even cynical; but somehow a life had built itself up around him.

At this moment, he was accompanying his 16-year-old protégé Saya on a walk. He had complained without stopping even once for twenty minutes. The topics meriting complaint ranged from the weather, the street, people in the street, the city and its attitude toward public hygiene, and then all the way to little girls and dogs of every description, especially including their shit.

“Just look at this mountain, for instance,” he said, scowling at a pile he had come perilously close to stepping in. “What monster could have done this?”

At this juncture, a menacing low growl issued from the hedge nearby. Before there was time to react, an enormous wolf erupted from amongst the trees and pounced on Kirito, pinning him to the grass.

“Alecto, what the hell are you doing?” came an angry voice from the same direction. What followed the voice was a woman.

“Lady, call off your demon!” Kirito yelled.

“She’s not a demon, and I’m trying to,” Thalia replied. “Alecto,” she said in a low voice beside the wolf’s ear, which twitched. The huge tail wagged. “If you do not get off this man at once, I will kill you, dismember you, and feed your corpse to the Morrighan,” she warned in a sinister murmur that was somewhat belied by her affectionate nuzzling of the wolf’s fuzzy ears as she spoke.

The huge wolf put her ears back in submission as she removed herself from Kirito’s chest. She offered her mistress a reproachful look, feeling that she deserved a romp after the long journey.

Saya giggled and turned to greet the wolf’s mistress, who was a petite redhead of such unusual beauty that Saya knew Kirito would lose his power of speech once he had a proper look at her.

“That was a bit harsh,” Kirito said, seeing the danger was past and brushing himself off with affected nonchalance.

“You think so?” Thalia asked, her eyes twinkling.

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“WOW, Lady, this is a great wolf!” Saya exclaimed. “Can I pet him?”

“Her. Yes, you can pet her. She wasn’t really attacking, she just gets playful and forgets herself at times,” Thalia explained with a mischievous smile.

“I wasn’t nervous,” Kirito lied unabashedly, looking in her direction. His eyes widened. Saya sighed.

“I guess it’s up to me, Miss,” she said with an engaging smile. “I’m Saya, and this idiot is Kirito-san. We’re private investigators – he's samurai and I’m Bloodfire, so we’re also trained warriors; we’ll do pretty much any job you pay us for. Since your wolf is a girl, do you think she could have a litter of cubs? Imagine how cute they’d be! And I could adopt one.”

The redhead laughed. “I’m Thalia, Saya,” she said, bowing to them both. “And I agree, cubs would be adorable! But a suitable father must be located first, which is a monumental task for wolves as well as humans at times.”

Saya expressed enthusiastic agreement with this idea while Kirito stood silent, shuffling his feet.

“So – do you guys want to go and get lunch? My treat – it’s the least I can do after Alecto mauled you,” Thalia said, giving Kirito another apologetic glance. She attributed his stubborn silence to shock or anger – or both – over Alecto's enthusiastic greeting, and was feeling far more guilty than she would have had she known he was simply ogling her.

Kirito would have leapt at the chance for free food even if it had been offered by a decrepit, ill-tempered old man instead of a beautiful young woman; ditto for Saya, who, being adolescent, seemed to eat her weight in food every day it was possible.

***

They were soon chattering like old friends, joking and teasing about any subject that came to mind.

“So, Thalia-san,” Kirito asked. “What do you do here in Edo?”

Thalia smiled. “I just arrived, so I’m afraid I don’t have a job yet, although I’m in the interview process with one place. I was qualified for a bunch of stuff where I come from, but I’m not sure what kind of opportunities I’ll have here.”

Gradually, Kirito’s mind had been drawing connections in what she said with what he had seen on the news that morning and the previous evening. He sat up, his eyes suddenly sharp and interested.

“You’re the blue-jumpsuit babe,” he exclaimed.

“Wow, what a claim to fame that is, thanks a lot,” Thalia retorted, but looked wary. How did he know what she'd been wearing the day before?

“That was you! This is unbelievable! Do you realize you’re all over the news? I can’t believe they haven’t pounced on you yet; have you been just wandering around all day with no one shoving cameras in your face?” Kirito was excited.

Thalia looked taken aback. “What? N- no, I was at Shinsengumi Headquarters this morning, and went straight to the park after that.”

“Everyone’s speculating about you. Who you are, what you do, how you convinced those hijackers to turn themselves in, what your connection with the police is, where you came from, and, of course, if you’re single. Are you single?” Kirito asked, leering.

“I really hope no one leaks the location of my hotel,” Thalia said, wincing. She hated being a public spectacle. In her old world, she had avoided the limelight whenever possible.

“The Shinsengumi Vice-Commander scowled a lot when they grabbed him for a few questions, and demanded that your privacy be respected, but there’ll be plenty of enterprising journalists willing to risk his wrath for the chance at some kind of exclusive interview. Hey, Thalia-san, we could all benefit from this financially, you know,” Kirito said.

She shuddered. “What if I just treat you guys to lunch once a week instead?”

“What? For how long?”

“I don’t care – just spare me the cameras!” She really did look appalled. Kirito gave her a measuring look, trying to assess the source of her aversion.

Saya was all for female solidarity. “Don’t worry, Thalia-san,” she said stoutly. “I’ll make sure this idiot doesn’t do anything you won’t like. As long as you keep your lunch dates, of course.”

Thalia laughed. “Of course,” she agreed. “Why don’t we say Thursdays we’ll meet at the park around 12:30, unless otherwise planned?”

“You’re serious?” Kirito asked, incredulous and delighted.

“Dead serious,” she said, smiling back at him. She knew without being told outright how hard it was for them to keep their heads above water, given the vindictive oppression of the samurai class by the invaders. She also knew that these were true, pure, shining spirits, with whom she was proud to associate.

They parted ways outside the restaurant, mutually pleased with their new friendship.

“She could be my sister,” Saya announced. “Same red hair and blue eyes, and she’s so beautiful! I bet I’ll be as beautiful as her.” She twirled her parasol and hummed a little tune at this happy thought.

“Her hair is like embers from a dying fire, or the reflection of a red maple at sunset in a lake; yours is like a clown’s wig,” Kirito said, waving off this lofty aspiration to beauty.

“Like you’re anyone to criticize other people’s hair, Mophead!” Saya retorted.

“You're right, though, you and Thalia-san look like you could be related. You’re both very small and pale, with big blue eyes,” Kirito said.

Among the distinguishing physical traits of the Bloodfire clan was their pale, almost translucent skin and hair in every shade of fire, from white to blue to gold to red.

She was quite the mystery, their new foreign friend.

“Oi, Saya, maybe she is family of yours,” Kirito said. “She looks Bloodfire enough, all right.”

“We can find out when we see her Thursday for lunch!” Saya said, thrilled at the prospect that her new friend might be of the same vanishing tribe as she.

***

When Thalia approached her hotel, she was relieved to see nothing unusual happening outside it. Still, she knew it was only a matter of time before the hotel staff decided to see if there was some reward in it for them if they revealed her location to the press.

Of course, the whole story might blow over soon, and then she wouldn’t have to worry. It was almost equally possible that elephants would spontaneously begin using their tails as rudders and their ears as helicopter blades. She sighed.

She felt conspicuous enough without any media blitz. This was not due to her relocation, however; it had always been this way for her. She stood out wherever she went, whether she wished to or not. It was only in the wild that she felt truly at home, free to relax and just Be.

She also felt at ease with kindred spirits, of course; she had felt very much at home with her new private-investigative friends as well as with the Shinsengumi, official trappings or not.

The nature of her deep connections with Harada and Okada made for a certain kind of tension with them, but it was welcome tension that would hopefully be resolved in enriching ways during this lifetime they would share.

“Try to be inconspicuous, Alecto,” she murmured ironically to her wolf as they entered the hotel.

This, of course, was futile. The lobby went dead silent, apart from a few isolated shrieks of terror, when Thalia walked as casually as possible through it on her way to the stairs. Alecto padded along beside her. “It’s all right, she’s quite friendly,” Thalia said, making soothing motions with her hands; but it seemed some people found it difficult to focus on her words when faced with the reality of a huge brown-black wolf a few feet away from them – no matter how docile it was.

No one at the desk tried to stop her, but she realized this was due to the frozen panic they were in and not a lack of objection to the wildlife she was parading through the lobby.

She sighed again, but headed upstairs nonetheless. She and her wolf wouldn’t be there long anyway – it was after four now, and at this time of year sunset was only a little more than an hour away. Not long after that it would be dark enough for her owl form.

Alecto, too, was able to shape-shift into two other forms: her air form was a large fruit bat. This might have been less conspicuous for traveling through the lobby, but bats, too, are nocturnal, and Alecto found it difficult to shift during the day. Thalia shrugged it off – she would simply widen her eyes and deny any knowledge of a giant wolf if the issue were later pushed; no one would believe her, but she was short on options.